Dragon Genesis: I Can Create Dragons - Chapter 417: The Ant Empire.

Chapter 417: The Ant Empire.

Kael bent forward and started digging into the thick snow with his bare hands as he was told. The white powder piled high, but he didn’t stop.

Behind him, Lavinia’s voice rang cheerfully,

“You can do it, Kael! You’re almost there!”

Kael’s lips twitched.

He wasn’t sure if she was encouraging him or mocking him, but her tone made it sound like both. Still, he kept digging, throwing snow over his shoulder with a somewhat annoyed look on his face.

After all, the snow wasn’t the only problem.

No, actually, it wasn’t even a problem.

The real problem was the Mage who was still wrapped tightly around him.

Lavinia clung to his back like a cat afraid of falling, her arms locked around his neck, her legs around his waist, and her body pressed close, her fur-lined hood brushing against his cheek. She refused to let go, and Kael had no choice but to drag her weight along with every movement.

“…Lavinia.”

Finally, after minutes of struggling, he growled under his breath.

“Yes?”

She answered sweetly, her chin resting on his shoulder as if she were perfectly comfortable.

“This would be a lot easier if you moved away from me and stood on your own.”

He stopped for a moment, turning his head to glance at her with narrowed eyes.

But…

“Nope.”

Lavinia just shook her head without shame.

“…what do you mean ‘nope’?”

Kael muttered, staring at her in disbelief.

“I’m cold,”

She replied firmly.

“You’re warm.”

Kael blinked at her, speechless.

“So you expect me to dig through all this snow… with you stuck on me?”

“Mhm.”

She nodded with a small smile, tightening her arms around him even more.

“Think of it as training with extra weight.”

“…”

Kael stayed silent, unable to believe the ridiculousness of the situation.

Of course, the smile on his face clearly betrayed the emotions he was trying to reflect. In the end, he just let out a long sigh, his breath fogging in the freezing air.

“Whatever…”

He muttered, before crouching down again and forcing himself to keep digging.

Lavinia, behind his back, chuckled softly, clearly enjoying herself far more than she should.

A few minutes later, Kael’s fingers touched something strange. It had a hard surface, but Kael could tell for sure it wasn’t ice or stone.

He brushed more snow aside and suddenly—

“It is here, Father.”

Imperia informed and, just as she did,

The dark, heavy surface that Kael had just found shifted.

Massive shapes moved beneath the snow, and slowly, two gigantic Ants pulled apart. Their stone-like bodies ground against each other, opening a passage.

Beyond them, faint light spilled from inside.

“…”

“…”

Both Kael and Lavinia blinked in surprise.

“Are these…”

Kael questioned and the Ant sitting on his head nodded.

“Yes, the Brimback Ants.”

“Right…”

Kael nodded with a lost look on his face.

“Let’s go, Father.”

Imperia spoke and Kael, with Lavinia on his back, stepped past the living wall.

The moment they crossed, the change was immediate.

The air grew warm, their breath no longer freezing in the air. Resin-lined walls glowed faintly, pushing back the darkness.

“It’s… warm.”

Lavinia muttered softly as she looked around.

“The Brimbacks’ bodies release warmth; the heat is spread evenly throughout the colony, and with the Brimbacks guarding the entrance like walls, no matter how cold it is outside, this place will remain warm.”

Imperia explained.

Lavinia glanced back at the Brimbacks as they sealed the tunnel behind them, the sound like stone grinding shut. Her eyes lingered on the glowing cracks along their shells.

“They are like… living fortresses.”

“Indeed,”

Imperia nodded.

“And this is only the beginning,

Follow me.”

The Ant spoke; even someone as mature as her sounded quite proud of her children.

“Alright.”

Kael muttered with a light smile on his face; it felt refreshing to see his Ria act like this.

The group moved deeper into the colony and, as they did, the walls widened, becoming more and more spacious.

What began as a narrow tunnel soon opened into an immense chamber, carved smooth and reinforced with strange resin that shimmered faintly like glass. The air was even warmer here, so much that Lavinia momentarily thought of moving on her own, but very quickly that thought disappeared.

It was too comfortable here; Kael too, despite complaining about it, made sure his movements didn’t make her uncomfortable, an action that made Lavinia chuckle softly and tighten her hold around him.

Kael sighed when he felt her move, then he just smiled lightly and continued walking, soon, however, he stopped dead in his tracks, staring at what was in front of him with a shocked look on his face.

Sitting on the top of his head, Imperia too raised her proud head and—

“Welcome.”

She began.

“To the empire my daughters built.”

The air around them seemed to have shifted. It felt much more… alive.

Before them stretched a vast underground world—tunnels, chambers, and halls that ran as far as the eye could see. Lavinia, still clinging to his back, lifted her head and gasped softly; her reaction was similar to Kael’s as well—shocked.

The walls glowed with veins of golden resin, its light pulsing faintly. The shine reflected across smooth stone, illuminating the entire area. Shadows of moving figures stretched long and sharp across the floor.

Ants—thousands of them—moved in perfect unison. Their steps echoed as one, a low thunder rolling across the chamber. None collided, none faltered.

Kael’s jaw tightened as he took it in. Lavinia’s grip on him unconsciously grew firmer. Neither spoke for a long moment.

It was beautiful.

Quite strange and alien, but beautiful nonetheless.

An empire beneath the ground.

“This… all of this was built within a week…?”

Kael questioned in disbelief.

“Yes.”

Imperia answered.

“The Deepmaws carved these tunnels. They sensed every weak point in the stone, every hidden fault, and created it all in a way these tunnels would never collapse no matter what.”

“No matter what…?”

Lavinia repeated those words in a doubtful tone.

After all, she could think of many ways to make this entire place collapse—not naturally, sure—but there were many unnatural ways.

But Imperia—

“Yes, no matter what.”

The Ant repeated those words again with unshakable confidence.

She had observed the Mage for many days now; she understood how her mind worked. She turned towards her and—

“The Deepmaws have a special resin that solidifies the walls of the tunnels they create; applying that resin layer after layer makes the rocks here stronger than the mountains above.

When combined with the Brimbacks, who support the entire system with their own bodies, the entire structure is currently stronger than the mountain it is built on.

This place is made to survive even the worst of storms.”

Imperia then looked into Lavinia’s eyes and—

“Natural or unnatural.”

“What if… instead of trying to make this place collapse, someone tries to… say drown it?”

Lavinia questioned.

Imperia laughed at those words,

“You underestimate this place, Lavinia. What you are currently seeing is barely the beginning; to make this entire place drown, you would need enough water to fill more than about ten normal-sized lakes.

And even if you could produce that much matter, actually drowning the place is an entirely different matter. Not only is finding an opening to my empire next to impossible unless one knows exactly where it is,

All these tunnels have the Brimbacks guarding the connectors; they are not known as living fortresses for no reason. They can simply close the openings, making it impossible for the water to even reach this place.”

Lavinia blinked, impressed by the entire structure.

Imperia, satiating the Mage’s curiosity, turned around again. Kael walked further, and soon the tunnels opened into enormous farming caverns.

Lavinia’s eyes widened at the sight—rows upon rows of glowing mushrooms, frost-moss creeping across the stone, fungal gardens stacked on shelves of hardened resin.

“Gods…”

Lavinia whispered.

“How much food is this?”

She questioned.

Imperia’s reply was calm.

“Enough to feed half of the Velmourns. And if you wish, Father, the Mornmelts can grow more. They can double the yield in weeks, quadruple it in two months. Waste, frost, even the bones of beasts become food under their care.”

Kael noticed Lavinia grabbing his shirt and he knew exactly what she was thinking.

Food.

That was what they needed the most.

“So… the Velmourns can consume this, correct…?”

Lavinia asked.

This wasn’t the first time she had asked this question, and Imperia, just like always, nodded again.

“Yes, as I said before, humans can consume this food.

You can take everything you see here.”

“Everything…?”

Kael blinked.

“What will the Ants eat then?”

He questioned; as much as he cared about the Velmourns, he knew how much his Ria adored her ants, so in his mind, these Ants were as important as the Velmourns, if not more.

“Don’t worry, Father, this is only one of the many farms we have here.”

Imperia answered with a light smile; she liked how her Father cared about her children as much as she did.

“One of the many…?”

Kael blinked.

“Yes, there are a total of five hundred and twenty such farms here.”

Imperia answered.

“What…?”

Kael couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“I have separated thirty of these farms that will produce food for the Velmourns; the production of one farm can feed five thousand humans for a day, thirty of them can feed five thousand humans for a month.

So just as I promised,

My farms can give us enough food to feed half of the Velmourns for an entire month.”

“And this is only when… the Ants have been farming here for a week…”

Kael muttered, not missing this little detail.

“The ongoing construction and settling in the place did somewhat affect their speed, but yes, that is correct as well.

As I said, once given enough time, my Ants will be able to produce enough food that the Velmourns won’t have to worry about it anymore.”

Imperia answered confidently and both Kael and Lavinia couldn’t believe the sight in front of them.

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